Gardening: Cuttings: Timber]

LAST November a huge ash tree was felled in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden. Its size and the number of rings on its trunk suggested that this had been one of the first trees planted when the Royal Botanic Garden moved to its present site in 1820. A fungal rot was its undoing, but rather than get rid of the timber, the RBG invited Tim Stead, a craftsman and sculptor, to recycle the tree into an exhibition, The Botanic Ash, which continues at the garden until 3 October. Some of the tree reappears as furniture, some as sculpture. The exhibition in the Caledonian Hall is open daily (10am-5pm). Admission free.